Monthly Archives: December 2011

It is finally the 24th of December. PREZZZZZENTS!!!! Yay Yay Yay!

Now I’m sure you’re all busy cozying up with your families and what not, but I wanted to send off one more reminder before Christmas. As Tom Haverford would say, “Treat Yo Self”. To what, you may ask? To anything you please.

Christmas is a time for indulgence (and I guess family, and giving and all that nice stuff), so don’t forget to take some time for yourself over the next few days.

Nosh on a few too many cookies, guzzle a little more than your share of eggnog, and treat yourself to some seasonal pleasures.

I am all pedicured up, in honour of the Treat Yo Self philosophy, and I must say, it feels damn good. Trust me, this picture is not from the summer…I am wearing flip-flops in freezing weather. That’s just how I roll. I challenge you to do the same.

I’ll be enjoying some me time over the next few days, and I hope you will too. See you when I return.

Merry Christmas to you and yours from little ole me here at Luvcrumbs. LOL (my dad thinks that means ‘lots of love’),

Elise

In this recipe the flavours of Italy  and France collide (french toast is from France right?) for a delicious dainty breakfast. Whip up a batch for Christmas morning, or make use of some slightly stale panettone that you’ve received as a gift after the holidays. I’ve used mini panettone, but you can use a full sized loaf and cut it in quarters. Let’s get real though, miniature stuff is cuter. You’ll need:

• 4 mini panettones or 1 full sized
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 2 tbsp butter
• maple syrup
• powdered sugar and fruit garnish (optional)

Panettone comes in all sorts of flavours. I used a traditional one with dried fruit, but you can go crazy with chocolate if you wish.

Slice your panetonne crossways into circles that are about 1/2 inch thick. In a bowl, whisk together your eggs, milk and spices. Heat your butter on medium in a large skillet. Slice by slice, dip your bread into the egg mixture until it’s saturated, and gently place it in your skillet. If the pan gets dry, add a little more butter. Let it cook on each side for 1 or 2 minutes it’s nice and brown.

When all of your slices are cooked, cut them into wedges if you’re using a full sized panettone, and arrange them on a plate. Serve with ample amounts of SYRRRRRRRRRUP (I really relate to Buddy the Elf), and a dusting of sugar to garnish. Throw on a bit of fruit if you feel like pretending to be healthy.

Now chow down with some hot cocoa, or a faux pumpkin spice latte, and send yourself into a sugar induced coma. That’s really what Christmas is all about, isn’t it? Happy cooking!

So, I realize that I missed yesterday in my 12 Days of Christmas series. Oops. Let me explain. Being the anti-mathlete that I am, I slipped up subtracting 12 from 24 and accidentally started a day early. My bad. Hopefully you can forgive me and read on.

You may notice that I have developed quite a liking for a)melted snowmen and b)meringues. This recipe combines both. YUM! It will make about 12 large meringues. You’ll need:

• 1/2 cup egg whites (4 large eggs, or from a carton)
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup fine white sugar
• 6 large dried apricots
• 24 raisins
• 24 pretzel sticks
• 48 currants

Start by cutting each of your apricots into 2 large triangles (carrot noses, duh?).

Preheat your oven to 225 degrees celsius. In a large metal bowl, whip your eggwhites and cream of tartar on medium speed until soft peaks form. Add your vanilla, and slowly add your sugar one tablespoon at a time, whipping on high speed until very stiff peaks form.

On a parchment lined baking sheet (you’ll probably need 2), drop roughly half cup spoonfuls of meringue, and spread them a little so they look nice and melty. Drop in your dried fruit (one apricot nose, 2 raisin eyes, and four currant teeth) and stick in a pretzel stick on either side. You can arrange the pieces in a face, or just let them fall…depends on how melted you want your snowman to look.

Bake in the middle rack of your oven for 1 1/2 to 2 hours (longer means crunchier meringues).

Now I know it may be hard to bite into their adorable little faces, but trust me, these guys are delish. Happy baking!

Have you seen all of the adorable melted snowman cookies floating around food blogs these days? I think they are so darn cute, but it can be a lot of work to bake, ice, and decorate a large batch of cookies. That’s why I came up with this recipe.

My Melted Snowman Medallions are easy and delicious, and make absolutely beautiful gifts. The snowman homage is subtle, so they can even be served as an elegant accompaniment to coffee or tea. This batch makes 12 medallions, but can easily be doubled or tripled. You’ll need:

• 200 grams of white chocolate chips
• 6 large apricots
• 12 pretzel rods
• 24 raisins
• 48 currants

To turn your apricots into carrot noses, cut triangle shapes into them lengthways. Each apricot should get you about 2 large noses. Snap each of your pretzel rods in half for arms.

Bring a small pot of water to a gentle boil, and place a large metal bowl on top. Make sure that the bowl doesn’t come in contact with the water, and that the water is just simmering. Pour your chips into the bowl, and stir gently until they are full melted. When you are taking your bowl off of the heat, make sure not to get any water into the chocolate. Water and chocolate are worst enemies.

Lay a large sheet of parchment or waxed paper on your counter and drop generous spoonfuls of melted chocolate onto the paper. If you want your medallions to be round, it may be helpful to trace circles onto the underside of your paper, but melted snowmen aren’t usually round so feel free to get messy. When you’ve dropped all of your chocolate, shimmy the paper back and forth a little to spread the chocolate into discs.

One snowman at a time, drop an apricot slice, two raisins, two pretzel halves and four currants into the chocolate. You can position the dried fruit so it looks like a snowman face, or just let things fall where they may.

The combination of the salty pretzel and sweet chocolate and fruit is delicious. You can package these up as gifts by stacking them in a cellophane bag.

I’m on a bit of a snowman kick, so later this week I’ll be sharing another frosty idea. Happy baking!